Boy, 16, files FIR against father for marrying him forcibly to 20-year-old

A 16-year-old boy approached the police in Uttarakhand’s Nainital district alleging that his father forcibly solemnised his nikah (marriage) with a 20-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh.

A 16-year-old boy approached the police in Uttarakhand’s Nainital district alleging that his father forcibly solemnised his nikah (marriage) with a 20-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh, the police have booked his father and have sent the boy to child protection home in the district.

The police said the boy alleged that his father had threatened to kill him when he refused to marry the girl. (File photo for representation)

“A 16-year-old minor boy complained to them on Wednesday that his father forcibly married him to a 20-year-old girl from Rampur in UP on March 20 this year, a few days ahead of the lockdown. He also pointed out that he was not yet adult,” said Yunus Khan, senior sub-inspector at Mallital police station in Nainital.

“The boy also alleged that when the girl’s side came to know that the boy was a minor they refused to marry. But later his father persuaded the girl’s side somehow for the marriage,” said.

Khan said the boy also alleged that his father had threatened to kill him when he refused to marry the girl. “ We have registered an FIR against minor’s father under Prohibition Child Marriage Act’s section 3 (Child marriages to be voidable at the option of contracting party being a child) and section 10 ( whoever performs, conducts or directs any child marriage shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment) and IPC section 506 (criminal intimidation),” he said.

Khan said the marriage took place in Rampur area of UP and the police have registered a zero FIR in Nainital and sent the case to Rampur for investigation. “Further investigation and arresting would be conducted by Rampur police in UP,” he said.

Dushyant Mainali, a senior advocate in Haldwani, said child marriage in this era is one of the serious crimes. “But the rare thing, in this case, is that the teenager himself complained about his father. This will set up an example for other youngsters who are forced into child marriage by their families.”